I know not of who you speak of sir. My concern is passing the as you called it "pre-existing" artwork as your own (stating that he came up with the concept and the idea) and getting payment for it. Yes it is true it is a mixtape cover. To me it is compared to you writing a review and someone taking that review, changing a few words and claiming it as their own. But I am guessing that you do not see that comparison. Maybe I was wrong in thinking that you were a man of honor and you are as others believe just a biased individual who let's his "friendships" effect his professional opinions.

LOL "man of honor" -- who talks like that? If you told me who he lifted the artwork from, I'd at least have an idea of whether he was ripping off a peer independent artist or whether he's ripping off something established and mainstream (because if it's the latter case -- you gonna blow the whistle on every mixtape that photoshops a movie poster or a Biggie album cover?), then I'd at least have an idea of the 'level' of his crime, because it's all relative. If he ripped off you or someone you know, then of course you have a right to be mad. If not, what's it to you? And yes, plagiarism is plagiarism, but it is taken a LITTLE more seriously among professional writers than in the world of mixtapes where every other beat is jacked from a major label release.

And even at the absolute most, I don't think I'd do anything more than point it out on my blog and just briefly say hey, that's kind of a dick move, and I don't know what else you'd expect me to do. If anything, you'd be better off contacting the people that paid Skarr for the artwork to see if they want to recall the mixtape and get a refund from him or something. But either way, sneaking around and creating special e-mail accounts just to stir up some little-ass controversy doesn't strike me as the most honorable way of life, so get off your fuckin' high horse.

LOL It was brought to my attention and I have not a thing to gain from "exposing" Mr. Akbar for him intentionally passing off this artwork as his own. And it is one thing to "jack" artwork from a poster, movie, an industry album cover. It is another thing to "jack" artwork from an independent artist and passing it off as your own! Which in this case he did. He said that he came up with the concept and he did the artwork.

I have no "fuckin high horse" and what's with the hostility? Never once have I used harsh or cruel or vulgarity towards you. But I guess because I choose to be anonymous that really is making you mad. I am not trying to "stir up some little-ass controversy". My intentions were to expose the fact that this Gritty Gang artwork was not the original artwork by the graphic designer as he has clearly made it out to be. But then again Baltimore hip-hop seems to be based on lies and deception.

As for an "honorable way of life" Mr. Shipley, I guess it's more honorable to just say nothing at all. As for the the artist who's cover that really is, I do believe he is being contacted. I, as I have said, was sent the artwork and have no interest in the outcome of the situation. But as for Mr. Akbar my suggestion would be that in the future be may want to be careful because that is bad business.

You're exactly right that the anonymity is what pisses me off about this and gets me off on a bad foot with you, whoever you are. Anonymous little mystery figures trying to pull my card, or manipulate me into "exposing" people for them, are the bane of my fucking existence. You may already know this, but I had a little problem the last few months with a Government Names commenter who motivated me to start moderating comments on the site, because he thought he could throw dirt on everyone else's name without revealing his own. And that guy says "sir" a lot, which is why I asked what I asked earlier. Once a couple years ago some anonymous person kept trying to drop breadcrumbs to get me to publicize something negative about an artist, and it turned out eventually that it was that artist's salty ex-girlfriend. So you ain't the first, and you won't be the last, but while we're here I may as well explain to you that these kind of tactics don't work. Not on me, probably not on anybody.

Maybe you don't realize this, but approaching me this way is really an insult to me right off the bat. What do you think is the worst case scenario if you sent me that e-mail under your own name? I run to Skarr and say "yo this guy is talking shit about you"? Hip hop is full of shady underhanded shit, and Baltimore is full of shady underhanded shit, so yeah if you put 'em together you're gonna run into some of that. But I have no obligation, ethical or otherwise, to chase down every injustice and print it like some kind of investigative reporter. I just try to keep my bullshit detector on when I'm covering local music and not fall for any of the tricks. I'm friendly with a lot of artists but I don't feel any compulsion to protect them if they fuck up, that's on them. I don't know how much you think Skarr gets paid to make a CD cover, but it's probably not enough to keep me on salary as his personal enforcer. You act like he's the head of a fuckin' crime syndicate and when you tried to blow the whistle I turned out to be a dirty cop working for him. The few times I've tried to critically cover the sneaky shit people pull in this scene, I've ended up down a rabbit hole of shit slinging where nobody's innocent and everybody wants to make the other guy look worse. And for what? To confirm the reading audience's worst assumptions about the scene and give them another reason to ignore the music?

You can play this off like you're some concerned citizen or impartial observer, but the effort you put into preparing the comparison graphic (and still not telling me who was ripped off), and creating a special e-mail address for this goofy caper makes me feel like you think you're Deep Throat meeting Woodward & Bernstein in the parking structure. Subject line "Something very interesting" from username "You've Been Exposed"? It's all just a little dramatic, don't you think?

I just want you to know that if you hit me up, as someone I know or just someone in the scene or nobody of any particular note, whoever you are, I guarantee I would've been friendlier about this. I can't think of anybody I would've dismissed or attacked for pointing this out. But I do not respect the way you did this, and I hope one day you can talk to me as whoever you really are and get off on a better foot.

DAMN Al you went ham! And used the word "caper" which was excellent. Whoever sent this has no sense of underground,independent or just the creative sense of this culture. They need to put there investigative reports for something deeper. How the city is closing schools but just launched free buses throughout the city? Gimme a write up on that.

Thanks for clearing that up. That makes this all kinda funny to me, since The Jacka's one of the biggest artists in the bay area right now and has been on the cover of Murder Dog, so not a huge mainstream star but still kind of a big deal. All due respect to Skarr, but he's not really on that level, this guy made it seem like he was ripping off some other unknown from East Baltimore.

BEFORE I EVEN FINISH READING THIS RETARDEDNESS, I DIDN'T SEND U THAT EMAIL, I COULD CARELESS ABOUT PUTTIN THE FLIP ON SOMEBODY ELSE'S ARTWORK, ESPECIALLY SKARR AKBAR, SHIT HE AINT GOT NO SHOT IN THE RAP GAME SO HE GOTTA MAKE HIS MONEY SOME HOW, I WOULDN'T EVEN BOTHER KNOCKIN THAT HUSTLE

YO THIS C OGUN TOLD ME WHAT WAS GOING ON. I DONT RAP I DONT EVEN DO THIS INTERNET SHIT. IM AT ARS RIGHT NOW. ALL U NO NAMES DUDES NEED TO STOP PLAYIN GAMES. BEACON ONCE WE FIND OUT WHO YOU ARE WE GOIN TREAT YOU FOR DINNER.

Oh lord i was hopin you didnt post that lol... cant stop a grow man from doin anything... for the record dude is not GG just someone who happen to be around during this discussion.... and he obiviously fcks with skarr's music heavy.... with all that said please lets not turn this in to anything retarded.....GRITTY GANG SEASON... SEEK SHELTER!!